In the census, it is prohibited to transfer data back
There have repeatedly been reports that there is a person identification number in the census or that data may be transferred back to other authorities. This is also mentioned in a letter to the editor printed in the current issue of the Test periodical published by Stiftung Warentest. Such statements are just wrong. The truth is that it is prohibited to transfer data back and that there is no person identification number, as it was prohibited by the Federal Constitutional Court in 1983.
In its population census judgment of 1983, the Federal Constitutional Court had declared it unconstitutional to identify people through a unique person identification number – and the statistical offices comply with that ruling. In the 2011 Census, there is no person identification number. Read more on the topic of a person identification number.
Also, the prohibition to transfer data back applies without exception in the 2011 Census. The respondents’ personal data must strictly be kept confidential and can be passed on neither to private nor to government institutions. In practical work, this means that – although data can be transferred from the registers of the residents’ registration offices or the Federal Employment Agency to the statistical offices of the Federation and the Länder – it is not permitted to transfer non-anonymised data of the respondents back to the above or other institutions. If, for example, it is found out in the census that a person lives in a municipality without being registered there, his/her name must by no means be passed on to the relevant municipality authority. The data may flow only in one direction – towards the statistical offices. The prohibition to transfer data back applies in any case. The statistical offices supply individual data neither to the police nor to tax offices nor to any other authority.
